Outward Signs
Posted by Rachel Balducci in Family on Wednesday, March 09, 2011 6:34 PM
I took a deep breath before walking into the grocery store this afternoon. I pinched my cheeks and smoothed my hair and stole one more glance at myself in glass doors to verify that yes, I still had an enormous black smudge on my forehead.
Of course it wasn’t a smudge at all, but a cross—an outward sign of the start of Lent, of my need for God and my desire for change. I know this, but I wondered just how many others in the store would not.
My freshman year of college, I spent the entire Ash Wednesday walking around telling fellow students that no, that was not dirt on my forehead and yes, I knew it was there. I wasn’t a jerk about it or anything—but I was surprised. I had spent my whole existence up to that point in private schools where even if everyone wasn’t Catholic, everyone knew about the Ashes. It was shocking (and embarrassing) to discover this was not the case across the board. Who knew!
Today, as I walked around the store, I braced myself for the comments. I smiled at the first few people who looked my way, only to have them smile back and move right along. No comments, just kindness.
And then, a mere ten minutes into my shopping, I looked up to see a woman with a gigantic black smudge on her forehead. She was stopped in the aisle, going over her shopping list while juggling her two young sons.
“Hey,” I said, “A fellow Catholic!”
She smiled and we laughed and exchanged a few encouraging words before going our separate ways.
“At least I’m not the only one,” I thought, knowing that even if I was, that would be okay too.
But wasn’t it nice, on this particular afternoon, to move through my local grocers and be greeted by no less than seven fellow Catholics, our Ash-stained foreheads uniting us in our outward statement of a small sacrifice for God.
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